Government has been urged to make the tree-planting exercise part of the key performance indicators (KPIs) for various Regional Ministers, District and Municipal Chief Executives (DCEs) across the country.
According to the Member of Parliament (MP) for New Juaben North, Nana Adjei Boateng, who is advocating for this initiative, the Green Ghana Project should not just be a mere rhetoric, and urged the government to commit conscious efforts to give adequate green cover to the nation.
A total of 600,000 trees are expected to be planted in the Eastern Region to add to the country’s green cover as part of the government’s aggressive afforestation project.
In an interview with Citi News on the sidelines of the launch of the Green Ghana Project today, June 9 at Asokore Effiduase, the MP for New Juaben North, Nana Adjei Boateng, called on the government to task its ministers to ensure its sustainability.
“The important thing we must all address is whether we are getting value for money for the exercise, and not just planting trees. We should put in place mechanisms for the survival of the 600,000 trees that will be planted to ensure the project is sustainable.
“Those of us who are planting, each one of us has a duty to ensure that the trees survive, so we should move away from the mere rhetoric of planting trees.”
According to statistics from relevant authorities in the region, 70% of trees planted in the first phase of the Green Ghana Project survived, a feat stakeholders in the region want to improve upon with this year’s Green Ghana Project.
The Eastern Regional Minister Seth Kwame Acheampong, on his part, called on all the relevant agencies to support the exercise.
“It is my expectation that the region will receive the usual massive support for the successes achieved in previous years of the project. I also urge all critical institutions such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), the Ghana Cocoa Board, the Security agencies, the Water Resources Commission, among others, to join hands with us in making this national project a success.”
